Inflation has been doggedly low, so it’s not clear that the 2.5% expectation for inflation is going to turn out to be right.
Dan Peled/AAP
This week’s strong growth in full-time employment shows a robust labour market. This only deepens the puzzle of why inflation is so low at the same time.
Plato, Confucius and Aristotle. Ancient Greek philosophy is widely taught in American universities, but classes in Chinese philosophy are few and far between.
Public domain
It’s more important than ever that the U.S. understand China. So why don’t our universities teach Chinese thought?
A child walks past Mongolians holding up banners at a protest against offshore account holders in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in March.
(AP Photo/Ganbat Namjilsangarav)
While democracy is struggling globally and especially in Asia, Mongolians continue to vote and engage.
Is America’s digital economy facing a stormy future?
Filipe Frazao/Shutterstock.com
The digital economy in the US is already on the verge of stalling; failing to protect an open internet would further erode the United States’ digital competitiveness.
Liu Xiaobo, 1955-2017.
EPA/Liu Xia handout
The lessons of Liu’s life and work must never be forgotten.
A massive protest against the Gorrano Dam on January 26 2017 in Islamkot, Tharparkar.
Bheem Raj /Thar Voice Forum
China is sinking billions into energy development in rural Pakistan, much of it earmarked for renewables. That may be good for the climate and the national economy, but what about the locals?
Reuters/KCNA
The first week of July is not normally one that brings great events in world politics. Around that time, the northern hemisphere normally shifts into summer holiday mode. Recently, this has become less…
Compared to China’s highly developed cities, the western regions are still dark at night.
NASA
For China’s ethnic minorities, the state’s development programme is a matter of political control.
Who’s a currency manipulator?
Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
China manipulates its currency, but without real economic effects on the rest of the world.
No go zone.
pixelflake/Flickr
Explore the hidden origins of one of China’s most significant historic sites.
In North Korea’s eyes, its nuclear program is the only guarantee of regime survival.
Reuters/KCNA
While some countries were taking a major step toward the elimination of nuclear weapons, the US and its allies were focusing on ineffective, counter-productive sanctions against North Korea.
Kim Jong-un and scientists applaud after the successful test of intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14.
KCNA/Reuters
The international community has been trying to stop North Korea from developing long-range missiles for decades. So how did North Korea get one?
Chinese President Xi Jinping may be the only person able to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, Michael Dinneen
China is North Korea’s biggest trading partner by far, giving the former a great deal of leverage over the behavior of its neighbor.
The US and its allies currently deploy several ballistic missile defence systems that would be used in the event North Korea actually launched an attack.
Reuters/KCNA
Intercontinental ballistic missiles, such as the one tested by North Korea this week, fly far too high and fast for current missile defence systems to engage with.
People watch news of missile test on a public TV screen in North Korea.
AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin
North and South Korea explained in four questions and answers.
Kim Jong-un’s rhetoric and action against the US and others is framed domestically as the heroic defiance of an evil enemy.
Reuters/KCNA
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s rhetoric and actions is brinkmanship, aimed at maintaining his domestic grip on power.
A bus displaying the Pak-China friendship sign, along a road in Karachi, Pakistan.
Akhtar Soomro/REUTERS
Are Chinese lives the price to pay for doing business in Pakistan?
Protests at the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin, against the US withdrawal from the Paris climate change deal.
Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
An expert report shows that the G20 countries are using their energy more efficiently. But there is still a long way to go.
LGBTQ Pride in Taiwan.
yclou/flickr
Just as Taiwan legalised same sex marriage, China shut down the country’s most iconic lesbian social media platform.
China’s road to global influence runs through Europe.
EPA/Wojciech Pacewicz
European countries are competing against Brussels and each other for China’s affections. And that is undermining the EU.